The Carretera Austral, meaning ’Southern Road’, is one of the most isolated roads which runs along the south-western side of Chile. Nestled to the west of the Patagonian mountain range, this part of Chile receives an astonishing amount of rain which gives it such an amazingly tropical feel for such a cool climate.

Mid-way through the Carretera Austral is the town of Coyhaique, although this town was not that small, it really made us feel like we were in the middle of nowhere! It may not have helped that we were dropped off at 10pm at night in the rain, skipping over puddles for 2 hours before we were able to find any accommodation.. The Chilean style accommodation in this area was mainly Hospedajes - someone’s house who lets out a few rooms for tourists, and generally not well signposted as we found out!

The town itself was on our map as a stopover and a way to access the rest of the Carretera Austral. Sometimes waiting for days for the next bus, we were lucky to get one 2 days after we arrived. Another battle during our time on the Carretera Austral were the strikes, no commercial transport was able to get through, including food, so the supermarkets were VERY bare!